Nearly two million homeowners have mortgages whose rates will adjust upward by the end of 2008. The Federal Housing Authority estimates that 500000 could go into foreclosure. The response by Democrats seems to be best expressed by the chairman of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress Senator Charles Schumer of New York who earlier this […]
The State Capitol is hemorrhaging red ink. The non-partisan legislative analyst’s office (LAO) has released a report showing that the revenue shortfall from the budget just passed in August could exceed $10 billion. Fortunately the governor and the Legislature established a modest $4 billion reserve or the deficit would be much higher. How did we […]
Los Angeles is a union town. No not in the sense that years ago before foreign competition Detroit and Pittsburgh were "union towns" because of the sway auto- and steelworkers held in the community. And no this has nothing to do with the writers strike where people in elite Hollywood jobs are squaring off against […]
Last week a coalition led by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association announced that more than one million signatures have been collected to qualify the California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act (CPOFPA) for the June 2008 ballot. This eminent domain reform measure will stop government from taking homes family farms small business and places of […]
People ask why we bother to fight government waste and the misuse of taxpayer dollars. It seems that the triple threat of out-of-control government spending tax increases and government debt — in all its myriad forms — are so daunting that it is scarcely worth the effort. In many ways our work is like fighting […]
Even if the Thanksgiving Day holiday has become most closely associated with a festive meal many Americans value the opportunity to express gratitude for the blessings in their lives. Perhaps fewer of us recall from our history classes that when President Washington designated a national thanksgiving holiday in 1789 it was to give thanks for […]
At the end of each summer the Legislature adjourns so lawmakers can return home and tell their constituents what a good job they are doing. Some take credit for new programs or projects but usually only when speaking to those who would directly benefit from new spending. Nearly all would like to convince the voters […]
Those who have suffered loss in the fires that have ravaged Southern California could along with other California citizens across the state get burned again. There is no minimizing the extent of the calamity. During the worst of the crisis nearly one million people were compelled to evacuate their homes. All those who were not […]
Two property rights initiatives are currently in the signature gathering process and are likely to appear on the June ’08 ballot. The first is the California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act (CPOFPA) sponsored by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association the California Farm Bureau and the California Alliance to Protect Private Property Rights. The second […]
It’s that scary time of year. No not the little goblins trick-or-treating at your front door. What is frightening is the property tax bill in your mail box. Fortunately Proposition 13 has softened the blow by limiting annual increases to no more than two percent and by making the tax bill predictable. Still because it […]
